Chameleon [Import]

Chameleon [Import]

Track Listings

1. Do You Wanna Touch Me

2. Tragedy

3. My Sharona

4. (Western Track)

5. Heaven (Acoustic Track)

6. (Acoustic Track)

7. (Percussion Track)

8. Yeah Yeah (Acoustic Track)

9. Skin O My Teeth

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Includes Cover Versions of 'do You Wanna Touch Me,' 'tragedy,' 'my Sharona' and 'skin O My Teeth.'

Tracks:

Six Blocks Away
Something About What Happens When We Talk
He Never Got Enough Love
Sweet Old World
Little Angel, Little Brother
Pineola
Lines Around Your Eyes
Prove My Love
Sidewalks Of The City
Memphis Pearl
Hot Blood
Which Will

Amazon.com essential recording

Granted, Sweet Old World isn't the masterpiece that 1988's Lucinda Williams is. The too-simple explanations of "He Never Got Enough Love" aren't up to Williams's mile-high standards, and the arrangements throughout are often so similar to that previous release's that the melodic differences here aren't as clear as they might've been. But when she raises her vulnerable cry to sing the three, pained perspectives on suicide that are at the heart of this album--the title track, "Little Angel, Little Brother," and "Pineola"--Williams's very humanity provides its own proof that, while this world can indeed be cruel, it can also be oh so sweet. --David Cantwell

Customer Reviews:

Typical Williams - extremely strong.......2005-12-30

Disclaimer: I'm a grey hair, so this review will be age biased.

Lucinda Williams has an amazing vocal ability to weave a melody that carries you. Her voice sometimes sounds strained, but she always manages to complete the note - and leave you spellbound.

The weakest song on the album I think is "He never got enough love". Would that other musicians could create something this good, but it simply isn't indicative of the quality that I have come to associate with Lucinda. Personal bias only.

The strongest? I personally liked "Which Will" and "Sweet Old World". I am not usually a slow tunes fan, but these spoke to me.

Do you need to own Lucinda Williams? No, not if you listen only to one music genre. But if your tastes transcend boundaries, or you like the folk-country-rockish music think of Lucinda. You won't be disappointed.

Poignant.......2003-11-22

This was my first Lucinda Williams CD and my favorite in many ways. Ten years ago it seemed as consistent as her first album, and I admit on re-listening today that it isn't. The instrumentation has become dated, and between that and the New And Improved production on her later releases, I can see how others may have skipped this one or may want to. It would be a loss, though, not to have this CD that speaks so poignantly to loss.

If I had to pick a single favorite Lucinda Williams song, the title track would be tempting. This song about suicide is her masterpiece, and you're not human if you aren't moved by it. It takes a poet to succeed with such a song. "Something About What Happens When We Talk" was the first of her songs I ever heard and remains a particular favorite. On hearing it I began my arguments with myself over whether her simple lyrics were trite or minimalistic. I eventually decided on the latter, and this song is so very intelligent and evocative, like so many here. The theme of suicide and loss from "He Never Got Enough Love" (those songs about men with abusive childhoods haven't stopped or become more subtle from here to "Sweet Side") through "Pineola" is perfectly realized. I don't have Lucinda's gift with words, but hers is used to remarkable effect in this series of songs.

There are lighter pleasures here, from touching story songs ("Six Blocks Away", "Sidewalks of the City") to a fun, sweet love song like "Lines Around Your Eyes". Even before I had those lines I thought this was a great song, and now that we live in a culture that worships youth like never before, you can't beat the sentiment. "Hot Blood" is often a great song live, but unfortunately wasn't recorded in a way that captured the heat. Still, it's a must-have for any fan.

There are weaker moments. Some of the lyrics on "Prove My Love" seem trite, though others are moving, and it's very country. I find "Memphis Pearl a bit maudlin, but not bad. And the cover of "Which Will" is nice enough, but dispensable.

This is probably not the first CD I would recommend for someone who wanted an introduction to Lucinda Williams. It's musically dated, not perfectly consistent, and that's less true of her first CD or of Car Wheels. Still, the sense of it being a theme album for the first half or so of the recording, and a series of truly great songs - "Something About What Happens", "Sweet Old World", "Little Angel", "Pineola" - and a few that are simple fun - "Lines Around Your Eyes" and "Hot Blood" - are essential for any serious Lucinda fan.

Excellent as Usual.......2003-05-25

I completely disagree with the tone of the editorial review. This is an amazing album, and Lucinda Williams is an amazing artist. "He Never Got Enough Love" is a great song...and completely up to par in my opinion. If you like Lucinda Williams, or you just appreciate great vocals and arrangements, buy it, you won't be dissapointed.

Such Sweet Sorrow.......2003-03-30

This beautiful album opens with the uptempo Six Blocks Away but soon turns sombre with songs like He Never Got Enough Love, the tender and poetic Sweet Old World (covered by Emmylou Harris on her Wrecking Ball album) and the painful Pineola, a harrowing story about a suicide and funeral. Little Angel, Little Brother is less sad, but gentle, perceptive and poetic too. The mood never seems to brighten after that, although Lines Around Your Eyes is a powerful love ballad and Prove My Love is a melodic, emotionally gripping country song. Sidewalks Of The City is a sad but hopeful Springsteenesque ballad, while Memphis Pearl reminds me of Emmylou's Red Dirt Girl or Joan Baez's version of Love Is Just A Four Letter Word in its theme and mood. Lucinda's sound is a perfect blend of rootsy country, folk and rock that fits her lyrics like a glove. This beautiful, sad and moving album ends, quite appropriately, with her cover of Nick Drake's elegiac Which Will.

A notch down from "Car Wheels," but still worth the ride.......2002-10-25

This CD sometimes gets lost in considerations of Williams's work, sandwiched as it is between the auspicious "Lucinda Williams" and the amazing "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road." It is true that the songs do not have the consistency that you get on either of those other CDs. But, when stacked up against the disappointing and, frankly, mediocre, "Essence", this one shines. The high points are certainly the title song,'Pineola' and 'Little Angel, Little Brother', the latter quite possibly the finest song she has written. There is still some distance between Williams and the truly great (Dylan, Joni Mitchell, the Band, Richard Thompson) though. We owe Williams thanks for allowing us to see that in a way that is internal to this CD. Her version of Nick Drake's 'Which Will' is affecting, but, put on "Pink Moon" and then I think we can all agree which one is 5 stars and which one isn't.

Average customer rating:

you've been burned by my lighter
Rock
Best of the Best
Not Quite the Real Thing
The greatest hard rock/heavy metal album of all time

Blues for the Red Sun
Kyuss
Manufacturer: Chameleon / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Welcome to Sky Valley
...And the Circus Leaves Town
Wretch
The Desert Sessions Volume 9 & 10
Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R

ASIN: B000001A3H
Release Date: 1992-06-30

Tracks:

Thumb
Green Machine
Molten Universe
50 Million Year Trip (Downside Up)
Thong Song
Apothcaries Weight
Caterpillar March
Freedom Run
800
Writhe
Capsized
Allen's Wrench
Mondo Generator
Yeah

Amazon.com

Blues for the Red Sun is the finest album by short-lived rock gods Kyuss. With guitars tuned way down and amps turned way up, Kyuss's deafening assault switches from light to hammering in a blink on some tracks ("Thumb," "Thong Song"), while slowly building on others ("Freedom Run"). They achieve full rock bliss when they're relentless. By updating Black Sabbath from the perspective of psychedelic jammers out of the Arizona desert, Kyuss established the blueprint for the entire stoner rock movement with this 1992 release. Even its makers never matched it, let alone beat it. --Robert Burrow

Customer Reviews:

you've been burned by my lighter.......2007-06-29

how could any album that includes an angry song about lighter burning be bad? all i have to say. PERIOD...

Rock.......2007-06-09

It's a pretty natural inclination to want to categorize and disseminate styles into little boxes. I mean, hell, would you really want to say that The Beatles and Good Charlotte are in the same category?

But let's look at the other side of that same coin--ARE The Beatles and Good Charlotte in the same category? Is the definition of 'classic rock' versus 'pop punk' really just the distinction of quality versus lame-osity, reinvention and creativity versus cashing in on spiky hair? Could it really be that the pavers of possibility in rock can really sit in the same cordoned room with the posers with paychecks?

Kyuss, believe it or not, makes me think that the possibility is just that.

Look at the other reviews and tags that question the category of this band. Grunge? Metal? Stoner rock?

Man, let's just call this rock. Heavy rock, the rock of Wine Cooler Blowout by J.J. Paradise Players' Club and Trance States in Tongues by Zen Guerrilla. Rock that may make you shake your booty some, but definitely gets you in the mood to score. Rock that lets you bob around the room , throw some hair (if you have any), or just veg out and let whatever it is that's got its claws into your brain have free reign. From driving rockers like "Green Machine" to bassy meditations like "Mondo Generation," you'll know where Queens of the Stone Age came from and why the brilliant opening of Songs for the Deaf ("You're listening to KLN. Clone Radio - We play the songs that sound more like everyone else, than anyone else.") is such stinging satire, because rock IS a category as broad as the ocean these guys made ripple with their heavy sounds, and this album is a Kyuss classic--a great spot to start, if you're only starting.

Best of the Best.......2007-01-06

Kyuss does have a greatest hits album, and it's solid, but it doesn't hold a torch to Blues for the Red Sun. Kyuss has always been pegged as a "jam band," but that doesn't really do them justice. How many riff bands invent a new genre of music?
Kyuss are the original stoners, and this album is a fan favourite for good reason. John Garcia, one of metal's most tragically unsung heroes, just wails on this record. Unlike today's whiny, sobbing emo and nu- metal- types, Jon Garcia can SING. He's got an almost definitive rock and roll voice.
Of course Josh Homme on guitar and backup vocals is a big part of why Kyuss rock- he's the Midas of heavy metal music. But this record is really propelled by Garcia on vocals. Check him out on Danko Jones's new record, Sleep Is the Enemy. The man's a genius!

Not Quite the Real Thing.......2006-09-28

Kyuss are pretty good, and this is their best album, but if you want to hear some real, punishingly heavy, unbelievably distorted acid-rock you have to hear the double guitar attack of the Gibbons brothers. And that means you have to go to Bardo Pond on this site and listen to the samples of "Tommy Gun Angel" or "Flux" on the album Lapsed. All it will take is 30 seconds of each to hear what's missing here. Even if you're bugged that I seem to be dissing your band, give the Pond a listen anyway.

The greatest hard rock/heavy metal album of all time.......2006-08-16

Why this is the greatest heavy metal or hard rock album ever released, bar none:

1. Impeccable musicianship. I defy you to name one band with a better rhythm section than Nick Oliveri and Brant Bjork.

2. Gargantuan riffs. Kyuss is twice is ambitious as Black Sabbath and just as gifted when it comes to crafting minor key hooks.

3. Incredible composition. Ominous silence, dramatic buildups, explosive thrash carnage and spaced out jam sessions are deployed with precision to evoke the emotional responses that the listener needs to feel he is completely immersed in an all consuming psychic (and psychedelic!) journey.

Furthermore, every song is informed by the previous and subsequent songs. As a result, the entire album plays as an organic whole, yet does not grow monotonous.

4. A signature sound. Tune the guitars down to C. Play them out of bass amps. Add plenty of fuzz and reverb. Its brilliant. The sound is huge. It just coarses through you like nothing else.

5. Great attitude. John Garcia's manly, laid back megalomania is just plain fun. And his coarse snarl adds a very complementary rough edge to the impeccably precise arrangements crafted by Homme, Oliveri and Bjork. Listening to Kyuss makes you feel like you're king of the world and you just don't give a...

This is the best album ever. I hope you buy it and "get it" the way I do, because it has really opened my mind to how truly inspired a rock band can be. I literally see music differently than I did before I bought this album.

Average customer rating:

Just an Outstanding Album!
Maynard being Maynard
Very Cool, Very Diverse, POWERFUL !!!
A Classic Maynard Release!!!
He's still the best after all these years . . .

Chameleon
Maynard Ferguson
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Conquistador
M.F. Horn, Vol. 1
Maynard Ferguson
New Vintage
Primal Scream

ASIN: B00009VU2Z
Release Date: 2003-07-01

Tracks:

Chameleon
Gospel John
The Way We Were
Jet
La Fiesta
I Can't Get Started
Livin' For The City
Superbone Meets The Bad Man

Customer Reviews:

Just an Outstanding Album!.......2007-03-25

Chameleon. If you were in high school in the mid-1970's this is probably the Maynard Ferguson album that sealed your lifelong appreciation of his music. Not only because of the screaming trumpets but because of the hard hitting, big band sound that just radiates from it. In all the years of listening to MF albums and seeing him in concert, I have always felt this was his strongets band.

"Chameleon" starts off with a strong trumpet presense in the title track. A good track on the album but best heard live as the whole trumpet ensemble gets involved. A great way to start off. The second piece is "Gospel John" featuring Alan (The Amazing)Zavod on Keyboard and Bruce (Bad Man) Johnston on Baritone Sax. The song builds in intensitity until the whole band is Wailing.

The next two pieces are renditions of pop songs that really don't say too much. Randy Purcell's arrangement of the Streisand hit "The Way We Were" is straight forward and not bad as a change of pace. It's followed up by a version of McCartney's "Jet" which is OK but again, not one of my favorites.

Three out of the next four pieces are what really set's this album apart from all other MF works. "La Fiesta" is just an outstanding song, featuring Zavod again on Keyboard and Lynn Nicholson on lead trumpet (yes, that is him during the trumpet cadenza that is the highest screamer). This is another piece that is great on the albim but pales in comparrison to the live 15 minute version. "Can't Get Started" follows and features Maynard singing. A great (slightly changed) version of the old 1950's hit. Then we get to Stevie Wonder's "Living in the City". probably my least favorite work here. Again, like "Jet" it's not bad but it just doesn't say anything new. But hang on to your hats, "Superbone meets the Bad Man" is the final piece and does not disappoint. Featuring Johnston on Baritone Sax and Maynard on Superbone (Valve Trombone) it just swings. An absolute delight!

There you have it. One of MF's best and still my favorite studio album. If you don't have it, get it now!

Maynard being Maynard.......2007-03-03

Chameleon is a compilation of some commercial songs like Herbie Hancock's Chameleon, Stevie Wonder's Livin' For the City, Paul McCartney's Jet, and Chick Corea's La Fiesta. Also on the album is Maynard's own Superbone Meets the Bad Man. Yes, Maynard even sings. (and he's not that bad) Maynard screams with his great openings. One especially includes his rendition of Gospel John. In the liner notes of the album, it reads, "I felt like I was in a gospel band, the way we paraded around during that song." This is stated by the studio drummer. Nobody can touch Maynard's greatness on this CD, and he brought together a great band to make this.

Very Cool, Very Diverse, POWERFUL !!!.......2005-08-31

Unlike some MF 70's releases, this one is HOT! La Fiesta, Super Bone Meets the Badman, Can't Get Started, Gospel John, The Way We Were...all different and all well done.

In my view one of the more "in your face" recordings of the band ever. This mix more closely resembles the way the band sounded live in the mid-70's. So much for producer Teo Macero's reputation...the guy did this one and the famous Live at Jimmy's just before it and messed up both releases at the time (can you say "reverb" and missing parts?)

The trumpet section is scorching led by the legendary Stan Mark and supported by Bob Summers, Dennis Noday and the screaming Lynn Nicholson.

Bruce Johnstone kills on bari sax and Alan Zavod's keyboards were...amazing.

Buy this. You'll love it.

A Classic Maynard Release!!!.......2005-08-27

This is a classic Maynard release. Right up there with Conquistador, this album is hot! I've been listening to Maynard a lot lately, and the most stuff by him that I seem to enjoy the most is his 1970's, more fusion orienated recordings. This album definately fits that discription.

I first picked this up because the song that appears on this album, "Gospel John;" I played in my 7th grade jazz band. The long intro is amazing. And once the song starts, Maynard's band rips it up! What a great song!

Another highlight here, for me, is Maynard's vocal version of "I Can't Get Started." Not a fan of vocals, but I love this tune.

The rest of the album is great as usual. There's something for everybody in this recording. It ain't just fusion influenced, there are some straight ahead big band tunes as well. I don't really see how this album is commercial. All I see is that it has some really talented players on it.

Great album!

He's still the best after all these years . . . .......2005-06-09

Listening to this album again takes me back to my high school days, when I was cutting my musical teeth on the fusion and jazz tinged pop and rock music of the early 70s. I was into BS&T, Chicago, Lighthouse etc. But then I went to my first MF concert. WOW! These cats could play! The music educators I was studying under pooh-poohed Maynard as a pop huckster, but he was my bridge. Because of his pop-tinged jazz, I was hooked, and went deeper and deeper into a love for REAL jazz.

No one can deny Maynard's awsome musical ability, and the musicians on this album are all top notch too. I remember waiting with anticipation when this album came out, because I had heard many of these numbers live before they were released on vinyl. Even back then, I thought the approach he took with the title track (adding the electric guitar) was too much, but its still a great chart. Gospel John is just a great arrangement, and Randy Purcell's trombone work on "Way We Were," coupled with Maynards cascading trumpet, well, it don't get no better! The real highlights, though, are the incredible arrangement of "La Fiesta," (again, it was better live, but this is the next best thing), Maynard doing a credible singing job on "Can't Get Started," and the interplay between Maynard on Valve Trombone and Bruce Johnstone on Bari Sax on "Badman" -- all these tracks are just fantastic!

This was a real trip down memory lane for me. I wore the vinyl version of this record out as a teenager, and I have to cite Maynard as one of my major influences for initially choosing music education as my first career. For you audiophiles, the remastering on this was great -- I have discovered that quite often, trying to refine the recordings of earlier eras makes the remastered version artifical or sterile. That is NOT the case here -- its as vibrant and lifelike as the first time I spun the platter on my turntable.

God bless Maynard! He's still the best!

Average customer rating:

perfect dose of musical warfare
This is where it all began. Stoner Rock's Roots...
Desert Paradise!
classic
One of the best albums ever made- really

Wretch
Kyuss
Manufacturer: Chameleon / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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...And the Circus Leaves Town
Welcome to Sky Valley
Blues for the Red Sun
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ASIN: B000001A3F
Release Date: 1993-03-30

Tracks:

[Begining Of What's About To Happen] Hwy
Love Has Passed Me By
Son Of A Bitch
Black Widow
Katzenjammer
Deadly Kiss
The Law
Isolation
I'm Not
Big Bikes
Stage III

Customer Reviews:

perfect dose of musical warfare.......2007-06-29

how can anyone give this album anything less than a 5? from start to finish it gives the listener a completely unrelentless onslaught of dirty desert rock. The guitar and bass sounds are flawlessly recorded. They fuse together to form a wall of sludgy down tuned mayhem. A must buy for ANY rock and roll fans. To hell with genre classifications. People that feel the need to group everything into a category can suck it. Good music is good music. And Wretch is beyond good.

This is where it all began. Stoner Rock's Roots..........2007-02-02

..okay, maybe not Stoner Rock's roots. However, it is the roots of Southern California stoner rock. This is Kyuss' first album. It's not quite on the same level as Sky Valley or Blues For The Red Sun, but it's a damn good album that rocks start to finish. I must say, the two forementioned albums are the only reason I gave this four stars and not five. Kyuss bloomed right after this album. They were still in the growing process, during this one.

Desert Paradise!.......2006-02-14

1. This music is not for the soft hearted.
2. The tracks elicit wanton desires.
3. This music is pre-QOTSA and is not trendy.
4. The band line up is no where as important as the music.
5. The band line up is very, very cool indeed.

What's going on here is groove metal at it's finest. This music is stylistic in all it's glory, giving you some solid sounds from the wayward desert side.

The guitar drawls and the rhythym is like a steady rip tide of slash & thrash. Snug angry music, the sort of inspiration a young soul needs to DTB (DTB apply's to both genders). I believe this album is best enjoyed pool side with the carné grilln and the ladies serving up the margaritas.

*Band Line up:
Brant Bjork!! on drums.
Josh Homme!! on guitar.
Nick Oliveri!! on bass.
John Garcia!! on vocals.
Chris Cockrell!! on bass.
Mixed by Kris Fuhrman.
Mixed by Michael Mikulka.
Mastered by Carol Hibbs.
Produced by Catherine Enny, Ron Krown & Kyuss.

classic.......2005-11-25

Fantastic. This album, in my opinion has the energy that kyuss later left behind (Circus Leaves Town).
Comparible in some ways in production to the MC5 and the Stooges. Passion ahead of musical prowess, truly great.

One of the best albums ever made- really.......2005-03-03

This album shows a tremendous range of musical tastes... All of them good. Everything blends- The album is a 50 minute journey- one song leads to the other like you're right there with the band, choosing what's going to come next- and there will be NO compromise in the set from the moment you hit the play button. I have four Kyuss albums ... the others are good; but this one is IT. It makes a statement: The music matters.

Average customer rating:

Return to Sanity
Have Some Madeira
British humour at its best
If you haven't heard this...
Gentle Satire

Complete Flanders & Swann

Manufacturer: EMI Int'l
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000006T4S
Release Date: 1997-04-30

Tracks:

Warthog, The (The Hog Beneath The Skin)
The Sea Horse
The Chameleon
Whale, The (Mopy Dick)
Je Suis Le Tenebreux
Songs For Our Time
A Song Of The Weather - Flanders & Swann
The Reluctant Cannibal
Greensleeves
Misalliance
Kokoraki
Madeira M'Dear?
Too Many Cookers
Built Up Area
In The Bath (From 'At The Drop Of A Hat')
Sea Fever
The Hippopotamus Song

Tracks:

The Gas Man Cometh
Sounding Brass
Los Olividados
In The Desert
The Sloth
The Rhinoceros
Kangaroo Tango
Jaguar
Dead Ducks
The Elephant
By Air
Slow Train
A Song Of Patriotic Prejudice - Flanders & Swann
The Humming Bird
The Portuguese Man-Of-War
Sea Fever
The Hippopotamus Song

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The Gas Man Cometh
Sounding Brass
Los Olividados
In The Desert
The Sloth
The Rhinoceros
Kangaroo Tango
Jaguar
Dead Ducks
The Elephant
By Air
Slow Train
A Song Of Patriotic Prejudice - Flanders & Swann
The Humming Bird
The Portuguese Man-Of-War
The Wild Boar
The Ostrich
The Wompom
Twice Shy
Commonwealth Fair
P** P* B**** B** D******
Paris
Eine Kleine Nacht Musik Cha Cha Cha
The Hundred Song
Food For Thought

Album Details

Fantastic Triple CD Box Set of the Recorded Works of One of Britain's Most Popular Comedy Duos. Their Keen Observations of Everyday British Life and Abilities to Exemplify them in Song Made them the Darlings of the UK. Cleverness, Wit and Absoute Hilarity were the Order of the Day, in Just About Any Style of Music. Pure Comic Genius on Three Discs!

Customer Reviews:

Return to Sanity.......2005-07-27

Before Monty Python, before the Beatles, before "'Enery the Aigth Oi Am" there was the subtle, sweet, insdious humor of Flanders and Swann, and their lyrics remain part of the recognition rituals of Ivy Leaguers of the sixties. For any aging hippies or yuppies who find life WAY more stressful than we ever expected, and for whom the down side of alcohol, sex, and drugs has become apparent, I recommend listening several times to "In the Bath". It raises a cry for peace among the nations by inviting all the leaders to sit congenially steaming in a communal bathtub. And they reminding us of our essential self-interest when they add the proviso "as long as Swann and Flanders get the end without the taps." On those nights when we suspect that there isn't any point to it all, reach for the Flanders and Swann. They won't convince you there is any meaning to life, but they'll make it a lot easier to bear. Don't even try to do without it.

Have Some Madeira.......2005-07-06

Not every line in Flanders and Swann has become part of our 37-year marriage, but many have. As our turntables fail, we are pleased that we can relive all the fun stuff we used to collect. Nothing is like this duo, especially what you usually hear as French horn by Mozart converted into "I found that horn go(r)ne." And, of course,
"Have some Madeira, m'dear" is an all-time favorite.

British humour at its best.......2003-03-15

When I started out as a teacher of English, I had the most wonderful colleague as a mentor -- when she retired she gave me three LPs with much of what is on these CDs, and it must be one of the best gifts I have ever been given. Practically all of it makes me smile or laugh out loud (although I must admit that some, like The Armadillo and Slow Train, make me so melancholy that I can just feel my lower lip tremble and my eyes fill up). How can you beat lines like "Hail to thee, blithe Wompom", or "The English are moral, the English are good / And clever, and modest, and misunderstood"? I find they make great listening exercises for my teenaged students as well -- they consider it ancient, but incredibly funny!

If you haven't heard this..........2003-01-16

The great comedic pairing of the late Michael Flanders (vocals) and Donald Swann (piano and occasional vocals) must surely rank among the hall of fame of comic singers and songwriters. Descended from the British music hall tradition, these two men wrote and performed music which still sparkles with wit today, some 40 or more years since it was recorded.

After being told to take up singing as a means of strengthening his polio-weakened lungs, the wheelchair-bound Flanders teamed up with pianist Swann and proceeded to write such classic songs as "The Hippo Song (Mud Mud Glorious Mud)", "The Gasman Cometh", "The Gnu Song", "A Transport of Delight" and many others. As well as a gently satirical spirit, all these songs feature the sublime wordplay and interplay of both men.

The first two discs of this box set are actual concerts - "At The Drop Of A Hat" and its successor "At The Drop Of Another Hat". Recorded at the height of the duo's popularity and form, the sound quality is surprisingly good for recordings this old.

"At The Drop Of A Hat" opens with three of the Flanders and Swann classics. "Transport Of Delight", a song in praise of the "97 horsepower omnibus" features the wonderful harmonies of the duo on lines like "any more fares" and Flanders' dead-on impression of a London busdriver "Geddardait, we're full right up inside". "Song of Reproduction" deals with the new, as it was then, stereo technology and features Flanders delivering an incredible monologue using every conceivable piece of audiophile jargon. "The Gnu Song" (in which "gnu" is pronounced phonetically) is a real treat. The audience's reaction to the reappearance of the gnu is superb.
As well as this opening trio, the disc features Flanders' snippets of "Songs For Our Time" (in which he experiments with conventions of hit songs), "Song of the Weather" (a rundown of English weather throughout the year), "The Reluctant Cannibal" (featuring Swann in the tititular role and the chorus "I can't eat people/I won't eat people/eatin' people is wrong"), Swann's foray into Greek folksong "Kokraki" and the justifiably famous "Madeira M'Dear". The performance ends with a rousing version of "The Hippo Song".
Flanders is in fine voice throughout and his comments introducing each song are delivered with deadpan accuracy. The story behind "The Gnu Song" is an absolute masterpiece. Flanders' monologue about the creation of "Greensleeves" is also superb - "'Greenfleeves'. That's an interesting name for a fong" (referencing old English script) being just a taste.

"Another Hat" begins in equally fine form with "Gasman Cometh" and "Ill Wind". "Gasman", presaged as "a tale of unending domestic upheaval", is sure to have most people who've ever dealt with unreliable tradesmen nodding in agreement, while "Ill Wind" is Flanders' attempt at setting words to a French horn concerto featuring the immortal lines "I lost that horn/lost that horn/lost that horn/found that horn/gorn". The performance continues with Swann's Russian/English song "In The Desert", the ending of which is truly side-splitting. "All Gall" (a reinterpretation of "This Old Man" to fit then-French President Charles de Gaulle) is a little dated but very cleverly done. "Song of Patriotic Prejudice", with its introduction and opening lines grabbing the audience's attention is another triumph, while the "Hippo Encore" is a great end to the performance.
Again Flanders is at his peak. His loving description of the Spanish olive-stuffers ("Olividados") and his superb story about flying ("By Air") are both brilliant examples of the shaggy dog story.
My favourite from both of these discs would have to be "First and Second Law". Flanders decides to educate Swann in elementary science and picks on the first and second laws of thermodynamics ("heat is work and work is heat" and "heat cannot of itself pass from one body to a hotter body") and the repetition of these phrases in time to Swann's barely-there piano accompaniment is one of the finest moments in British comedy.

The third disc is largely forgettable. It begins with a series of animal-related songs performed in a studio and without much of Flanders' rambling introductions. "Warthog" has its moments, while the others were clearly not performed in front of an audience for a reason. "Wompom" is also mildly diverting, presenting a story about a made-up substance which is the answer to everything.
The rest of the disc is then filled out with much earlier material in a rather poorly-recorded concert. "20 Tons of TNT" (related to the calculation the pair had done which gave that as the amount of TNT per person on the planet at the time) provides food for thought, but little more.

Is this box set for everyone? No. Much of the humour both within and without the songs does require a bit of background knowledge to what was going on in Britain and Europe at the time (1960s), John Profumo is referenced a few times as well as Charles de Gaulle and the Common Market, while a smattering of classical music knowledge can help out a bit with Swann's work and "Ill Wind". The fact that my grandfather (who's in his late 70s) recalls hearing these songs and laughing may give an indication as to the age of some of the subject matter. Equally the fact that "First and Second Law" references an awful lot of physics might do the same.

Nevertheless, for anyone who loves British humour done in a gentle manner or who is interested in the source of "mud mud glorious mud/nothing quite like it for cooling the blood", give these CDs some serious consideration.

Gentle Satire.......2002-04-03

I've been singing Flanders and Swann every day In the Bath since I first heard them in 1964. If you don't know them, think Gilbert and Sullivan by way of English music hall and Noel Coward, with a bit of Tom Lehrer musical satire and classic Bob Newhart or Charlie Manna monologues. F&S commented gently on their times: "The purpose of satire, it has been rightly said, is to strip away the veneer of comfortable illusion and cozy half-truth. And our job, as I see it, is to put it back again." Quite simply the best comic songs and patter of the 20th century. Michael died in 1975, Donald in 1994. Goodnight, Mabel Figworthy, wherever you are.

Here are some samples of Michael's verbal wit.

Wordplay:
- "A Transport of Delight," their song of the pleasures of the double-decker bus "has recently been adopted as the theme song of the Underground resistance movement."
- Speculating that Henry VIII wrote Greensleeves: "and the royalties go to royalty."
- About a tennis referee late in the day: "the umpire upon whom the sun never sets."
- Explaining how he was hoisted in his wheelchair onto airliners by a fork lift: "Why they need a great machine like that to lift forks I do not know. Well, they're only plastic, now, aren't they?"
- On status symbols: "The object is to Gunga Din your neighbor: 'I'm a better man than you' is the acid test," and, "let's bang our status cymbals with the best."
- To a disenchanted cannibal: "You used to be a regular anthropophagi."
- Of a lecher: "And he said as he hastened to put out the cat, the wine, his cigar, and the lamps," while the girl "lowered her standards by raising her glass, her courage, her eyes, and his hopes."
- At the corrida d'olivas (the Andorran festival of olive stuffing, not to be confused with the Spanish corrida de toros, or bullfight): "And a great cry goes up of Ole! He has made an 'ol."
- "It's no good going up to a scientist and saying to him like you would to anybody else, 'Good morning, how are you, lend me a quid, and so on.' He'll just glare at you, or make a rude retort."

Throw-aways
- During the height of the cold war the Soviet Union sent the Moscow Ballet on a world tour. Donald sang one chorus of the Hippopotamus Song "mud, mud, glorious mud - nothing quite like it for cooling the blood" in Russian. Michael: "That should improve our cultural relations."
- During the 1963 Mandy Rice-Davies and Christine Keeler scandal: "None of that going around saying no smoke without fire. Nil cumbustibus, Profumo." Also, from "Friendly Duet," "such models of friendship are precious and rare, while the friendship of models is not."
- "Now if you're writing a musical, as I'm sure practically all of you are, . . ."
- Of Donald: "You know that no one has a higher regard for your music . . . than you do yourself. I merely meant that you are not great because you are not dead. If you wish to be great you must stop composing and start decomposing."
- "We never found a rhyme for (Soviet Premier Nikita) "Kruschev" until he was dead: Did he die or was he "pushed off"?"
- "We spent two dreadful, uh, delightful years, entertaining the Americans whose need, let's face it, is greater even than yours. Of course, when we're over there we say that the other way 'round."
- "No matter what you may say about the Germans, and who doesn't . . ."
- "Some of the songs that have made our names a household word, like slop-bucket . . ."
- "They've started testing cars now. They started at 10 years, then 5, now three. There's even some talk of having them tested before they leave the factory."

Absurdities
- "I'm delirious about our new oven fitted with the eye-level grill. This means that without my having to bend down the hot fat can squirt straight into my eye."
- A spectator during the construction of Stonehenge: "So, it's not going to be lived in. Well, that's something anyway. So what is it, then? It's a what?! A calendar?! A bit big for a calendar isn't it? You'd look pretty foolish with that on your desk."
- "Donald knocked himself out this morning. Got one of those new pop-up toasters. Nasty things."

Incredible multiple rhymes:
- "The fair hippoptama he aimed to entice from her seat on her hilltop above, as she hadn't got a ma to give her advice, went tip-toeing down to her love."
- Of Josephine: "Nonsense, said Bonaparte. She lives on her own, apart, in her own apartment."
- "Oh let us be married if our parents don't mind. We'd be happy and inseparable. Inextricably entwined. We'd live happily every after, said the Honeysuckle to the Bindweed."
- "And you'll always see a single lace-less left-hand leather boot. A bootless British river bank's a shock. We leave them there at midnight, you can track a member's route by the alternating print of boot and sock."

There Goes the Wondertruck...
Average customer rating:

I wore it out

Tasty Country-Fried Rock

There Goes the Wondertruck...
Mary's Danish
Manufacturer: Chameleon / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Circa

American Standard

Experience: Live + Foxey Lady

songs of love and empire

Free

ASIN: B000001A3V
Release Date: 1991-09-10

Tracks:

Don't Crash The Car Tonight
Can I Have A Smoke, Dude?
Ashes
What To Do
Blue Stockings
Well Well (Home Is Where The Heartbreak Is)
DVB
Shanty Pig
Hey There Man
It'll Probably Make Me Cry
Mary Had A Bar
Dodge City

Customer Reviews:

I wore it out.......2002-08-25

This is a great album... I originally bought the cassette and have worn it out from play. I wish I'd have bought it on CD to begin with.

Tasty Country-Fried Rock.......2001-06-27

I bought this album back in the late 80s, and I'm sure I wasn't their targeted customer -- I had a nosering, Doc Martens, and a huge collection of industrial music. Mary's Danish was full of alt-country guitar licks and Southern accents. But I recognized this as truly great music when I heard it. "Don't Crash the Car Tonight" was on my city's alternative rock station, and it's a perfect song -- gritty, twangy, sassy, smart. "Mary Had a Bar" is a sing-along song so good, you can almost smell the beer. "Well, Well (Home is Where the Heartbreak Is)" and "It'll Probably Make Me Cry" still go into my car CD player when I'm having a tough time in my love life.

Tracks:

Welcome To My L.A.
Sweet Chitty Chatty
Smile, Smile
Dance Class
The Stake
Sticks & Stones
Pass The Flame
War Is Not Good
Brave New World
Give It Up
Belle Of The Ball
Beautiful Bright Blue Sky
Legacy
Who's That Bubbly Black Girl
Secretarial Pool
Pretty
Director Bob
Come With Me
Granny's Advice
Listen!
There Was A Girl

Album Description

The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, with music & lyrics by Kristen Childs; the story - what's a black girl from sunny southern California to do? White poeple are blowing up black girls in Birmingham churches. Black people are shouting "Black is beautiful" while straightening their hair and coveting light skin. Vivea Stanton's answer: Slap on a bubbly smile and be as white as you can be! In a humorous and pointed coming of age story spanning the 60's through the 90's, Viveca blithely sails through the confusing worlds of racism, sexism and Broadway showbiz until she's forced to face the devastating effect self-denial has had on her life.

Customer Reviews:

The chameleonic LaChanze shines in this bubbly score.......2007-04-12

With "The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds her Chameleon Skin," LaChanze seems to be single handedly taking every musical role that calls for an African-American woman to face adversity and age 30+ years or so over the course of a couple hours. After "Dessa Rose" and her Tony-winning performance in "The Color Purple," she proves again that she can pull this aging trick with aplomb (well actually this show predates the others, it's just the recording that's new). I've said it before-- she's a formidable singer-actress.

What's different about this show, with its autobiographical touches by composer-lyricist Kirsten Childs, is that the adversity here does not involve slavery, poverty, or abuse, but rather the difficulties faced by middle class black women finding their way in a world where accusations of "acting white" leave lasting scars as they struggle to find an authentic self. It's refreshing to have this point of view portrayed-- and Childs's music is original and catchy. It shifts skillfully in different ways-- from a sort of pastiche as the story moves from the 60's to the 90's, to some jazzy moments and a lot of interesting rhythms.

The story basically tells of Viveca "Bubbly" Stanton, who grows up in a middle class family during the civil rights era in L.A. and then goes on to become a dancer in New York. Her sunny personality is challenged by the harsh realities of racism, something she deals with, but refuses to accept. Some of the most insightful songs include the ones that handle this in original ways: The pitter- patter of "Sweet Chitty Chatty," in which Viveca, as a child, asks her (white) talking doll why "men throw bombs at kids like me in churches in Birmingham," The dance rhythms of "The Skate," in which a junior high age Viveca successfully integrates the various ethnicities at her school, and "Brave New World," in which Viveca brings home a white boyfriend to her mother (in a nicely unpredictable touch, Viveca's mom doesn't angrily dismiss the relationship outright, but instead just shares her concerns and tells Viveca she'll be there "to break the fall.").

While the show's musical voice and point of view feel fresh, it relies a little too heavily on choruses-- disembodied voices of nobody in particular. Only Viveca emerges as a true character, but a couple songs for two male love interests--"Beautiful Bright Blue Sky" and "Come With Me"-- are notable, even if they feel a little thankless, rather than moving the plot or defining characters. There is an episodic feel to the songs at times, instead of a continually developing plot, and Viveca's final declaration of "keeping it real" feels a bit forced.

Still, this is a musical recording worth checking out-- Childs obviously infused the show with a lot of her own experiences growing up, and her soul-bearing, along with the estimable LaChanze, make for an undeniably affecting listening experience.

Average customer rating:

Excellent!
Brilliance from beginning to end.
Carla Knows Music!
Weird, disturbing, and really groovy
Sexuality drips like an instrument....

Happy Days Sweetheart
Ethyl Meatplow
Manufacturer: Chameleon / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Evangelista

ASIN: B000001A3L
Release Date: 1993-04-13

Tracks:

Opening Precautionary Instructions
Suck
Devil's Johnson
Car
Queenie
Close To You
Tommy
Mustard Requiem
Abazab
Ripen Peach
Feed
Rise
For my Sleepy lover
Sad Bear
Bonus Track

Customer Reviews:

Excellent!.......2002-04-08

Every cut on this album is excellent. After seeing this band live I HAD to own the cd. Outstanding! A shame they broke up shortly thereafter, to this day I find myself, and my girlfriend humming the tunes. Ripened-peach, Close to you, Queeenie and Suck,- just buy it....

Brilliance from beginning to end........2000-01-03

This album really should have been big. There's really nothing not to like about it. If I were to characterize it stylistically, I would have to say, "Nine Inch Nails meets the B-52's." The sound is hard but playful, with an abundance of experimentation characteristic of either of the aforementioned bands. Meatplow was also one of the few bands I've heard with a sense of humor that didn't render it inane and an angry edge that didn't render it pretentious or brain-dead. Basically, if you enjoy the kinda-sorta industrial NIN sound but find Trent Reznor's pseudo-spookiness annoying, then this is the perfect album.

Carla Knows Music!.......1999-09-14

I loved this album dearly! "Queenie" is a classic. I suggest that you follow this up with other stuff from Carla B. like the bands "Scarnella" or "Geraldine Fibbers".

Weird, disturbing, and really groovy.......1999-05-04

I don't have a clue what they're singing about most of the time, but this music is just so bizarre and fun! Devil's Johnson, Tommy & Ripened Peach are catchy tunes, in their own seductively perverse way. And "Queenie" takes explicit lyrics to a whole new level. Are these guys ever gonna come out with another album???

Sexuality drips like an instrument...........1999-04-19

I saw Ethyl Meatplow at the second Lollapolluza Festival on one of the side stages, and they just blew me away. It was a hot day, and I remember that even Carla had her shirt off, which is just something she would do.... Anyway, this album is awsome and unique and they have great bass sounds that vibrate your speakers and shake your brains around. I, as does the other reviewer, wish they would do some more stuff.

Average customer rating:

Opa! A Wonderful Introduction
yannai schmanni
It is totally the greatest cd of all time. The beautiful m
Yanni is Briliant!!!!!
very good could listen to it lots!!

Chameleon Days
Yanni
Manufacturer: Private Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Niki Nana
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In Celebration of Life

ASIN: B0000000J0
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

Swept Away
Marching Season
Chasing Shadows
The Rain Must Fall
Days Of Summer
Reflections Of Passion
Walkabout
Everglade Run
A Word In Private

Amazon.com

Chameleon Days is an attractive studio recording that features some of Yanni's better-known compositions: the romantic longing of "Reflections of Passion," the classically gassed "Marching Season," the stately progression of "The Rain Must Fall" (which elicits comparisons to the outro of Supertramp's "Crime of the Century"), and the delicate "A Word in Private." At times, though, you wish Yanni had eased up just a bit on the synthesized harmonica voice. --Terry Wood

Customer Reviews:

Opa! A Wonderful Introduction.......2004-07-17

This album was my introduction to Yanni. Many people may have images from the Live at the Acropolis concert which has been shown repeatedly on PBS, and may think of lush, orchestral ballads, but his earlier works were almost exclusively electronic. Here he is able to create playful, joyous melodies (as well as a couple of tender, gentle ones) that have none of the sterile feel of early electronic works. The music here is as sunny as the isles of Greece.

yannai schmanni.......2000-09-12

If I sang like that I'd probably be living in a homeless shelter. Yanni clearly does not have good abilities at singing. I mean I can sing better than Yanni and that's bad.

It is totally the greatest cd of all time. The beautiful m.......1999-09-24

Oh, my god. OhmygodOhmygodOhmygod. This is totaly the coolest music around. I like to invite my friends to my house and we raise the roof with Yanni! The music fills my heart wif warmness that is totally awesome. I let his music fill my head while I sleep, and then dream about Yanni and I and my friends raisin' the roof in front of my whole school. Some kids in my school make fun of me because I listen to the beautiful sounds of Yanni while they listen to stuip music like Will Smith. I know that, deep in their hearts, they love Yanni's music and cherish it. Until they admit it... ROCK ON, YANNI!

Yanni is Briliant!!!!!.......1999-07-20

I have been a Yanni Fan for years. He has touched so many with his music and great sound. Yanni is truley one in a million. Thank you Yanni, for sharing your music with us.

Johnny Ramos JR. Beeville, Tx.

very good could listen to it lots!!.......1999-02-25

I love YANNI so I interduced his music to my boyfriend's father who loves to play his drums to music, he was hooked. He plays the YANNI LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS neary every night.

Average customer rating:

More of a party princess than a wallflower !

Wallflower
My Sister's Machine
Manufacturer: Chameleon / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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Alternative Metal | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

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Sweet Oblivion
Black Stone Cherry

ASIN: B00005ARQ2
Release Date: 1993-08-10

Tracks:

Inside of Me
Broken Land
This Is Fear
Steamy Swamp Thang
Feed
Empty Room
16 Ways to Go
Enemy
I Slip Away
Burn
Mockingbird
Cracking New Ground

Customer Reviews:

More of a party princess than a wallflower !.......2005-09-10

My Sister's Machine are one of the inexplicably unsuccessful bands of the early nineties grunge scene. In seattle, they were club-fillers along with Nirvana , Mudhoney and green river at the turn of the decade, and their first album "Diva" was a fine, more conventionally hard rockin' album, albeit with cartoon-terribly lyrics.
Wallflower followed two years later after label problems.

This album is much darker and takes itself less seriously that its predecessor. More melody and slightly less silly lyrics marked out a definitive runge groove. Nick Pollock's vocals a magnificent mix of Max Cavalera's growl and Chris Cornell's range and musicality raisd "Wallflower" to the quality levels of neighbours Alice In Chains. Walls of guitars, everywhere, particularly "crackin' new ground" and "Inside", lots of light and shade seasoned with power riffing in tracks like " Enpty Room" makes THIS listener wonder why they never made it HUGE. Better tunes by far than Pearl Jam for example, and barely a riff stolen from anywhere else over the whole album.

Still a staple in my card CD player more then ten years after release.

If you listen and enjoy, and want more of the wonderful singer/guitarist as Nick Pollock , try the new Soulbender album with Queensyche guitarist Michael Wilton. It is like a modern My Sisters machine album and NOTHING like Queensryche !

Wallflower and My Susters Machine Highly recommended !

Music Info:

Music Info

music info

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